Sunday, February 24, 2008

* We recently received a question from a group member asking about graphic submissions - he's an artist, not a writer, but a storyteller nonetheless. In his case, he would submit something akin to Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis novels, which are fantastic graphic accounts of her life story. The general consensus among the editors is that this could be 1) a powerful addition to our collection, being something unique and heretofore unseen in an anthology of this sort, or 2) a major deterrent to publication, assuming the publishers are unwilling to break with the norm. That being said, we're going for it. So if you also would like to enter this sort of submission, your contribution will be warmly accepted, with great interest.

* We had an overwhelming response to the Facebook group in a short amount of time - our guess is we have a few trigger-happy mouse clickers, who just love joining groups for its own sake! Nonetheless, it is a large group of people and we would like to get a better idea of who is really serious about contributing to the collection, and who's just along for the ride. This number will also be useful when we are ready to approach potential publishers.

For these reasons, we are asking writers to e-mail a BRIEF synopsis (no more than onepage) to newspaperman2008@gmail.com by mid-March, keeping in mind that the deadline for final submission is April 15. Details not necessary - we'd just like to get a general sense of where you're going with your short.

Remember: if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to email me. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Newspaper Man is the brainchild of a young and prolific writer seeking to understand the role of the media in shaping modern-day ideals and standards of human behavior. It is a writing project based on a simple premise, one that will compile the most profound, exploratory works of creative short story writers who wish to explore the notion of media mind-control, and question a society's capacity to withstand it.

All authors involved in this project will be willing and able to answer such questions as: do the actions of man determine what appears in our media forms; or does the mainstream dictate our reactions to what we read/see/observe?

Through this collection of short stories, we - the writers - reclaim the power of the written word, using the force of our combined creativity to show that neither we nor our thoughts will be controlled by the contorted reality of sensationalist journalism. Likewise, we will imaginatively describe the possibilities that exist for people who cannot escape this social mire.

We invite and encourage all interested writers to put pen to paper and engage in this process with us. Use whichever literary voice suits you best - satire, macabre, noir/thriller, science fiction...whatever. We recognize the negative effects that accompany restrictions on personal creativity. The pride of this collection is the opportunity we have provided to let the writer's voice shine through his/her work, unrestricted by genre limitation, so that you can speak to your audience the best way you know how.

The endpoint of this project is publication. Once we compile the submissions that speak most closely to our directive, the editors will seek to have our stories published, and we hope to do so before the end of this year. All entries must be submitted to newspaperman2008@gmail.com by April 15. No entries will be considered that are submitted after that date. Stories should be 2500 - 3500 words.

Look for our group on Facebook if you've got an account. Once you join, please check back often and share your news and ideas with the rest of the group - no input is without value. If you're not on Facebook...well, tough beans! Feel free to email me, though; I'll do my best to keep you abreast of all group discussions. Thank you for our interest and participation in this project. We look forward to working with you!

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About Me

I take the difficult paths in life as self-inflicted punishment for who I am, but I'm on the path to learning self-appreciation, if not love. I tend to be attracted to the things in life that are not so good for me, but what better way to learn? This blog will contain musings that have been chewed, swallowed, and regurgitated throughout history, but maybe you'll see a uniqueness in my perspective. This is the Hyena's Belly, where the dead carcasses of old news and subjects long explored have found a way to nourish and rejuvenate a growing soul. Enjoy.